User blog:Scorch933/Just a few words on Horror and Writing.
Been awhile, a new year and everything. Gave me some time to think and time to write and some time to relook at some of my old stories, a lot of which I posted onto this site. One of the things I had been doing for a long time when I started writing was trying to cram as much shock content into stories as possible. One of the great things about writing and what makes it different from Film and Music is that it's free. There's freedom in doing so, being able to write about whatever you want. It allows you to convey your points, do your research, just ponder and think. It allows you to learn more about yourself, and others to learn about you. Part of writing a story is that you put ideas into the story. Ideas that you've created yourself, or other people's ideas, but points, opinions, ideas, ethics, morals, personalities, thoughts into the story. Whatever you're writing you want your reader to feel it. You want them to be in front seat. It's great to be descriptive when you're writing. Not as incredibly descriptive as possible, but descriptive enough that the reader gets a vivid image or impression of what's going on. The problem comes when you think about what you're writing, what you're describing, and the points you're trying to convey. What are you trying to make the reader feel? Graphic Violence, sexual content, bad language, contraband/forbidden type stuff is great if it contributes to what you're writing and the point you're trying to make. If it's got merit, it's got a purpose. I'm not saying those kinds of things have merit themselves, but when they contribute to the structure or meaning of the story, they do. The point is not shock and offense because that's what Porn is. It's plot filler with what a Porn artist, writer, fan, or addict would call "The good stuff". That's not to say I'm comparing anyone's story to porn directly, not mine either, but I am saying that it's porn in a way. It's meant to appeal to the lowest values, to get the people who like it off. There's no reason for it being there except that it *is* the point of the story, to shock and offend. If the point is conveying an opinion, you have to put feeling and emotion into it. But you also have to offer an explanation to your audience. What is wrong, or right, with it? Why is it happening? What's happening afterwards? Why did all of it happen? You could write a sex-laden story that is full of absurd content. But what's the point? Is it sex-laden to make a point about sexual addiction? Is it sex-laden to express character's values or worths? Human desire? Lust? Or is it to make a sex-laden story that gets people off? If you really want to disturb people effectively with merit, don't focus on the content. Be descriptive, but offer up critically thought out explanations for the events. What the person is thinking while they're doing it. Why they are doing it. And don't make it because they "get off" on it, make it extremely complex. What will disturb people, set them on edge, haunt them, is offering up one of the wildest, creepiest, most disturbing points of view in your story. Write the story well, don't make it just to offer the opinion you've made. Make sure it contributes to the point of the story, and the story contributes to the point made by the opinion. The classic ghost story of the grave robber who steals the rings from the corpse's fingers, and she wakes up and he falls inside the coffin, buried alive. The classic hook-hand tale of the couple that go and make out and drive off and see the bloody hook on their car. Or the more obscure pool that is alive and consumes the couple. The Pool that's self-aware and independently thinking. Even if the point is merely to terrify the reader, offer up something, not Gross-out, but something they're not expecting. With a rise in gross-out films, torture porn, Saw, Hostel, Human Centipede and even Serbian Film, people expect Gross-out to disturb them. Eventually they really have seen it all when it comes to gross-out and blatantly immoral, disgusting behavior. Shock content. Gore. Writing these disgusting stories I previously wrote helped me think about this now. It did have an enormous impact on my capability to write descriptively, and my confidence. The criticism I got helped me figure out what I'm telling you now. Give em' something they haven't seen to scare them. A ghost that doesn't kill people, that people think is around. That opens doors and windows and cupboards. The couple grows paranoid of the house and they move out. Or better yet, the ghost doesn't even exist. It's a rapidly growing mental illness that causes people to think they're being haunted. It's created by the government in order for people who reside in homes to move out for ominous reasons. Make it realistic. Make it seem like it could happen, and like it actually *is* happening. Make it seem so real that they wonder if it's actually going on. Just ask yourself "What's my reader thinking while they're reading this? ewwww? Ugh? or are they too scared to think about it too much?" Happy writing. If you've got any questions to ask me, or you'd like some advice or pointers on writing, please feel free to E-mail me at: jackkrauser1140@yahoo.com If it takes awhile, I do apologize. Category:Blog posts